Australian companies move to phase out microbeads from beauty products.

A week after Coles and Woolworths committed to stop using the tiny plastic particles in their own products, Aldi pledged to follow suit and replace microbeads with natural ingredients.

"Aldi Australia is working with its supplier base and aims to replace microbeads with alternative natural ingredients in its exclusive brand products by 2017," an Aldi spokeswoman said.

Leading environmentalist Jon Dee, who has been campaigning to ban the beads, commended the supermarket chain for taking action.

"We have the three biggest supermarkets on board now which is exciting news," he said.

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The three supermarket chains join a number of manufacturers, including Unilever, L'Oreal, Clarins and Ella Bache, which have also agreed to phase out the beads from products sold in Australia.

Australia's state and federal environment ministers have also committed to a voluntary phase out of plastic microbeads by July 2018.

The campaign has attracted some high profile support with model Miranda Kerr backing the bead ban

Plastic microbeads are commonly found in personal care products such as soap, facial cleansers, body scrubs and toothpaste.

The beads are about the size of a grain of sand and cannot be filtered using conventional waste water treatment systems, meaning they end up in waterways and oceans.

Scientists believe that once in the waterways, the plastic particles attract other pollutants such as pesticides and oils and end up in the food chain. Because of their size, scientists believe the toxins are retained in the gut in humans and are not easily excreted.

"That's a compelling reason why we need to get rid of them once and for all," Mr Dee said.

The US introduced legislation to ban the beads last month.

Mr Dee, founder of environmental advocacy group Do Something!, said the pressure would now be on other Australian supermarket chains and chemists to follow suit and replace the plastic particles with natural exfoliants such as apricot kernels and walnut shells.

"Plastic microbeads are an additive that has been put into personal care products that absolutely don't need to be there," he said.